The BBC recently did a special report asking, “Is gingerism as bad as racism?” In this interview, several people came forward with stories of hatred and persecution:

Photographer Charlotte Rushton has been chronicling the UK’s redheads for a book, Ginger Snaps. Of the 300 she snapped, only two have been spared bullying because of their hair. She herself has suffered verbal abuse from complete strangers.

“I was on the Tube, pregnant, and I was really humiliated by this drunk yob. He was shouting ‘do the cuffs and the collars match?’ He got right up into my face. You don’t do that to other people.”

An American interviewed in the article says, “There is nothing like this in the US, where having red hair is not a precursor to having someone abuse you. Red hair is considered glamorous.” So what’s up with the Brits? The BBC gives a possible explanation: “Some claim it could be a throwback to anti-Irish sentiment from the 19th Century and before when the Irish, with a greater prevalence of red hair, were regarded as ethnically inferior.” Currently, redheads in the UK lack protection under discrimination and hate crimes laws; thus, many bigots may consider it open season.

One Brit who is unapologetically ginger is actor Damian Lewis, famous for his roles in Band of Brothers and Friends & Crocodiles. When asked by the Sunday Mirror if he liked being ginger, he replied, “Yes. I love being a redhead – always have done. I dyed it dark brown once for a job. Never again. It takes forever to grow out. I feel like I’ve done it. I have no plans to go black, bleach blond, or any other color for that matter.”

Firebrand Geri Haliwell is training to get her Ginger Spice bod back.(Daily Mail)

The Mirror‘s Sue Carroll accuses Kate Middleton of manipulating the press. “Is it just me who is baffled by this young woman who, having whinged, moaned and stamped her feet over the press attention heaped upon her as potential bride-in-waiting to a royal, now seems driven by the oxygen of publicity?”

Kate Middleton’s parents, who own a party favors company, have signed a lucrative deal to sell Harry Potter-brand party accessories.(Evening Standard)